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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23295793">He's A Keeper</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitovsheiji/pseuds/kaitovsheiji'>kaitovsheiji</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Acceptance, Canon - Book, Canon Relationships, Coming Out, Family, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Meeting the Parents, No Weasley Bashing, POV Outsider, Percy Weasley is a Dork, Pregnancy, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend, Secret Relationship, Sibling Bonding, Weasley Family-centric (Harry Potter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:47:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,822</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23295793</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaitovsheiji/pseuds/kaitovsheiji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie Weasley and André Egwu dance around each other through all their school years but it takes an accidental meeting years later for them to actually get together. This is not that story.<br/>This story is about what it takes for the people around Charlie to realize that their resident dragon-lover has finally found a human companion.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andre Egwu/Charlie Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Hogwarts Mystery</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>He's A Keeper</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A lot of thanks to my girlfriend and beta <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/greymantledlady/pseuds/greymantledlady">greymantledlady</a> because she followed me down the rabbit hole this fic became and helped me get out of it when the only way was through. You're awesome.<br/>Any English mistakes are likely all the bits where I ignored her corrections and went ahead with my love for weird phrases.<br/>PS: This is my first time editing on AO3 so forgive any inconsistencies.<br/>PPS: I made André's parents French (it started as a misunderstanding with the HP wiki's language and then I could never unsee it again, so he's 2nd gen French). Sorry, everyone.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~28th November, 1987~</p><p>It begins in Bill’s seventh year.</p><p>Charlie stops wearing exclusively his collection of mum-made sweaters. Then he drops his huge dorky jacket. Then he stops wearing those horrible, horrible fingerless gloves all the time. </p><p>It has nothing to do with his ridiculous growth spurt either, Bill checked; his jacket still fits him, and their mum’s sweaters are nothing if not stretchy. Then again, it’s not like Bill has nothing better to do than pondering over his brother’s clothes. Between the cursed vaults and his own N.E.W.T.s, Bill’s plate is kind of full at the moment.</p><p>At any rate, it’s not like he hasn’t seen his brothers do crazy shit all the time. A little change of clothes and an increase in hair combing frequency are nothing to be alarmed about.</p>
<hr/><p>~12th-20th December, 1987~</p><p>The next one to notice something’s up is Janet. She starts to see Charlie hanging around the stands during the Quidditch friendlies, when she hadn’t ever seen him there once in the last two years since she started playing.</p><p>From her point of view, he doesn’t even look like he’s there to evaluate the competition for when the actual season starts. He just stares at one end of the field very intently, without hardly ever moving. Like he’s a fly on the wall and he’s willing not to be noticed by a giant spider. Or maybe like he thinks he’s already been noticed and is waiting to be eaten alive.</p><p>It’s not even the change of clothes that weirds Jan out. Charlie has been wearing more of his uniform and less of his sweaters and wool jacket, which bothers her, who’s always been a little jealous of Charlie’s soft and comfortable old clothes. Comfortable is a thing most of her new clothes are not.  He’s been letting his hair grow too, and with the beginnings of Charlie’s growth spurt he’s looking more like Bill every day, which is cool. If a little confusing when she calls out for one of them in the hallway and it turns out to be the other.</p><p>The thing is, it’s not just Charlie that’s acting strange; when Jan, Skye and some other kids from their house play a friendly match against some Gryffindor volunteers (including both Weasley brothers), André shows up on the stands. She’s never seen André at a friendly game before. He likes to play and watch Quidditch, but she’s never seen him turn up at a practice match.</p><p>Now, André looks the same way as he always does, always dressed in his uniform and that awful Pride of Portree scarf, at least for as much of the year as he can avoid being roasted in it. But Jan notices the red cloth around his arm whenever Gryffindor is playing and Ravenclaw isn’t.</p><p>It’s not like Jan has never wished to be in another house since her 1st year but she thinks that fifth year is a little late to be having buyer’s remorse.</p><p>She doesn’t say anything to either of them. She might have, but then Penny’s sister Beatrice gets trapped in a painting, and then the whole cursed vaults routine envelops their entire group again and everything else flies out of her mind entirely.</p><p>It doesn’t bother her that much, and then it becomes the new normal, so she never brings it up. Not as they go through the O.W.L.s, not as they spend two years preparing for the N.E.W.T.s, and, to be completely honest, at this point she’s already forgotten about it and really couldn’t care less, given the happenings of the last seven years.</p><p>A couple of semi-weird friends more, she’s never had problems with that…</p>
<hr/><p>~25th June, 1989~</p><p>After the graduation ceremony, Filius can say he’s quite satisfied with this year's graduates. Though he’ll never admit it, he’s going to enjoy rubbing it on Minerva’s face how, along with the seven straight years of winning the house cup (having a Van Dale in his house certainly increased the odds), he’s very proud to announce he has two professional Quidditch players (no small feat, right out of the gate!), a graduate on the fast track to professordom and an honors student in the Ministry's magical creature academy. </p><p>It’s not like Minerva can complain either, with Ben Copper being admitted to the Auror academy and Charlie Weasley in the same magical creature academy as Janet Van Dale. Not that he wouldn’t have predicted it, having had them all in his N.E.W.T. charms classes... </p><p>All in all this batch of students could’ve turned out much, much worse.</p>
<hr/><p>~13th June, 2003~</p><p>“You ready, Weasley?” Gwenog Jones asks, waking Ginny up from her thoughts of going out to eat with her husband and her brother Charlie after the game. She looks up, cracking her neck, trying to cover up how startled she actually was by that comment. <em> Head in the game, Ginevra, </em> she tells herself.</p><p>“I’ve been ready since I was 5, Captain,” she answers, eyes crinkling as she grins. Sometimes Ginny still has trouble believing she gets to play with people she idolized when she was a teen, but the rest of the time? The rest of the time it is <em> good </em>. She grips her broom in her hands, feeling the way her callouses slip across the smooth wood</p><p>Those Pride of Portree divas have another thing coming.</p><p>Ginny’s just disappointed she won’t get to score against Meaghan McCormack this year. André Egwu will have to do. She grins to herself as she slings her leg over the broom and kicks off.</p><p>Her hair streams back as she sweeps up to join her teammates, excitement and adrenaline mingling in the air as they come together for their entry formation, moving as one like a single graceful entity. Ginny laughs for the joy of it all.</p><p>This is going to be fun.</p>
<hr/><p>The Harpies manage to win, by the skin of their teeth, when Greendale catches the Snitch as the Pride of Portree Chasers are about to score their 150 point difference goal. Charlie <em> wasn’t </em> kidding back in his Hogwarts Quidditch days about that Keeper.</p><p>Ginny's body feels like it's buzzing, the thrill of the game still lingering like a taste on her tongue. She beams at her captain when she grabs her shoulders and shakes her delightedly. </p><p>Both teams line up and shake hands and when she congratulates Egwu on a good game he asks, "Weasley, right? Your brothers used to talk about you all the time. I'm sure you've made Charlie proud."</p><p>"Oh yeah, he can't contain his excitement." She rolls her eyes but feels her cheeks flush a little. It's not just Charlie that's excited about her career choice, it's literally every member of her family <em> and </em> extended family except for maybe Hermione. "Oh, speaking of Charlie…"</p><p>She didn't <em> mean </em>to invite the opposing team's Keeper out to dinner after the game, but she's pretty sure Harry won't mind. And Charlie will probably be happy about the opportunity to catch up with a school friend - he always speaks so fondly of his and Bill's friend group at Hogwarts. As for Ron, well, if he has a problem, it’s time for him to learn that Quidditch rivalries stay on the pitch. </p><p>It doesn't take long to get changed and find her way back to her family afterwards, this being one of the first games of the Quidditch season and all. And after greeting Harry with a kiss and Dad with a hug, they all head down to the local wizarding pub where Egwu is supposed to meet them.</p><p>Given that the only thing she said about that fact was "I have a surprise for you," to Charlie, his face when Egwu walks into the pub is absolutely priceless. She only catches it by virtue of looking up at the right moment, because when Ewgu reaches their table Charlie already has his people smile on and is extending a warm hand for his former classmate to shake.</p><p>Harry gets up to add Egwu's food and drink to their order, and by the time he comes back with her dad and Ron in tow, their drinks trailing after them, both Charlie and Egwu are lost to the world, busy reminiscing about their school years.</p>
<hr/><p>~20th November, 2003 ~</p><p>It's not exactly a difficult thing to notice, Charlie starting to smarten up a little bit more. Hermione would definitely say it's pretty obvious, and the fact that it happened mostly all at once makes it even more attention-grabbing. </p><p>That's not to say that Charlie didn't dress appropriately for the occasion before, but one can't deny that he's now taking far more notice of how he looks. On the Weasley sibling scale, he's traveling away from Ron letting the ends of his sweater frazzle a tad too much before fixing them and towards the more, well, <em> Percy </em> end of things, never letting himself look out of order at all.</p><p>(He also smells a little less like dragon manure, if Hermione is completely honest about this).</p>
<hr/><p>~28th March, 2004~</p><p>In the end it’s the fact that after months, nobody else seems to have noticed or commented on it that has Hermione bringing it up to Ron. Ron, who, unsurprisingly, has no idea what she’s talking about.</p><p>Which in turn has her approaching Ginny who, now six months pregnant, is so bored out of her mind by everyday life and her quasi-forcible quasi-retirement that she’s even more receptive than normal to family gossip.</p><p>Ginny who, thankfully, grasps her swollen belly and hauls herself straighter in her armchair, brown eyes sparking with interest. Ginny who is quick to point out that she’s seen Charlie wear new outfits more in the last visit alone than in the <em> previous three years </em> . Ginny who promises to look into it, now that she has <em> all this free time </em>, her voice sounding somewhere between excited about the prospect and completely frustrated at her unwillingly idle state .</p>
<hr/><p>~7th May, 2004~</p><p>After the conversation with Hermione (and Ginny still wonders <em> how </em> she didn’t notice herself, because her brother Charlie is. Not. Subtle), Ginny starts paying more attention to Charlie’s behaviour. And to his new mindfulness of his own appearance.</p><p>Thinking back, she can count at <em> least </em> two visits where she’s seen him with his hair actually <em> combed </em> , which would mean she's been missing this for at least three months. But if she stops to <em> really </em> think about it, that wasn’t the first time she saw Charlie looking a little more spruced up than usual.</p><p>That was… right after that Quidditch game! The one the Harpies played against Pride of Portree. The day they went out to dinner with Egwu... who just happened to have gone to school with Charlie.</p><p>Not just with Charlie, though, she remembers. With Charlie <em>and</em> <em>Bill.</em></p><p>She needs to ask Bill about this. </p>
<hr/><p>~12th May, 2004~</p><p>When Ginny asks Bill about André Egwu's years in school he's stumped at first.</p><p>He remembers, tangentially, that they were in school at the same time and that André used to hang out with Jan too but Jan's friend group being mainly Charlie's age he didn't spend that much time with them.</p><p>But Ginny prods and presses and makes him think twice about it and, from what he can remember; André used to be interested in Quidditch (which makes sense given that he's now in the professional league) and Jan once said he was the one that made her Celestial Ball dress so he must've been interested in fashion too.</p><p>"What's this about, Ginny?" he asks, leaning in over the table, having become invested after an hour of interrogation.</p><p>"Have you noticed that Charlie's been dressing up more lately?"</p><p>This seems like another non-sequitur to him, so he narrows his eyes at her and raises one eyebrow in an expression he's been assured by Fleur is quite unsettling, with his face now full of scars. Ginny rolls her eyes back at him and tsks. His sister hasn't been one to be easily intimidated in a long, long time.</p><p>"Let me finish, will you?" she adds, pushing him back across the table with one hand. "<em> Charlie </em> has been dressing up more lately…"</p><p>"Wait!" Bill interrupts, suddenly remembering Charlie's fifth year at school and his brother's sudden obsession with having his hair be <em> always right </em>. Ginny gives him a dirty look. "This is not the first time," he says, thoughtful.</p><p>Now it's his sister's turn to lean forward, interested. "I don't remember any other times," she says.</p><p>Bill sits straighter and links his hands on the table, savoring this moment.</p><p>"During his fifth year, Charlie had this really weird obsession with his hair," he says. "And clothes," he adds, bringing one of his hands up to pinch his chin. "Jan mentioned something about Quidditch friendlies and spiders once? I'm not so sure about that, but it had something to do with Charlie. That was around about the same time as his style changed."</p><p>"Wait… who's Jan?" Ginny asks, looking confused. And of course she does; Ginny and Ron had <em> Harry Potter </em> in their school years and everything that went with him, it doesn't surprise Bill one bit that they wouldn't know about the cursed vaults and the search for Jacob Van Dale. Bill's school years were not void of adventure by any means, even if they hadn’t been quite the fight-the-Dark-Lord kind of exciting either.</p><p>So Bill tells her about all of it, and Ginny's face is a mix between incredulous and surprised at those kinds of things happening without any world-threatening evil wizard involved. <em> Kids these days </em>.</p><p>Bill also promises to re-establish contact with his old friend and ask her about André for Ginny. It's not like a little bit of adult interaction will go amiss, with two toddlers in the house.</p>
<hr/><p>~24th May, 2004~</p><p>Finding Jan is not as difficult as Bill had envisioned. In the end, it only takes speaking to Ben Copper when he gets back from Japan and he discovers that Jan is in Wales, at the moment, working with Common Welsh dragons for the DRCMC<sup> '1'</sup> (of the MoM<sup> '2'</sup>).</p><p>After that, it’s easy to send her an owl and arrange to meet at The Three Broomsticks, for old time’s sake. They share a warm handshake and a butterbeer, and it’s Jan who ends up bringing up their school days, opening the door for Bill to ask about the whole hidden purpose of this meeting, which was digging up dirt for Ginny on the ‘Charlie situation’ as Ginny has taken to calling it.</p><p>Jan might not have a lot more information on Charlie’s behavior during their fifth year, but she does give him a starting point for all of it. And, interestingly,  it also ties back to André Egwu. Bill files that information away in his mind, and makes a mental note to tell Ginny on their next family get-together.</p>
<hr/><p>~25th July, 2004~</p><p>Harry cradles James in his arms and smiles down at his son. This is James’ first patented Weasley family get-together, and so far the baby has behaved like a champ and hardly fussed at all. Until now, that is.</p><p>Harry looks at his watch and, oh yes, feeding time. He walks to where Ginny’s talking to Bill so he can pass James over for nursing, and hears the tail end of her conversation with her brother.</p><p>“-absolutely related to André, Ginny,” he hears Bill say. “And I wasn’t remembering wrong - this isn’t the first time.”</p><p>“So what are we going to- awww, look who’s here,” Ginny interrupts herself when she sees Harry approach with James. “The two best looking men in this party.”</p><p>Bill makes a huffing sound and gives Ginny a good-natured poke in the ribs. She laughs and reaches up to take a fussing James from Harry’s arms, cooing a little. ‘Hungry, are you, my dearest… yes, I know, baby, Mama’s here. Come on, then…’</p>
<hr/><p>~31st October, 2004~</p><p>Molly hums to herself as she adds the finishing touches to the puddings for the family get-together. She smiles to herself; Charlie's back from Romania for a while. She's going to have all the children home today.</p><p>She's taking the cheesecake out of the oven when there's a loud crack from right behind where she's standing. She jumps, startled, and only barely manages to save the food from ending on the ground with a quick flick of her wand. </p><p>"Sorry, Mum," Charlie says, grinning as Molly turns around. He takes a step towards her and kisses her in the cheek. "Good morning." </p><p>"Good morning, dear," she answers fondly, and pats him on the cheek before he makes his way upstairs to his room.</p><p><em> Strange </em>, she thinks, she was expecting Charlie to still be asleep in his room. He was never one to wake up early for anything except Quidditch.</p><p><em> Except… </em> </p><p>Molly remembers the outfit he was wearing, and makes a low humming sound. Maybe it wasn’t that Charlie had  woken up early. Maybe he hadn’t spent the night at home at all.</p><p><em> My baby is growing up </em>. Molly sighs wistfully, and then chuckles at herself. Almost twice as tall as she is, with the shoulders to match, wrangling dragons for a living: Charlie hasn't been a baby for a long time.</p>
<hr/><p>~12th November, 2004~</p><p>Percy rushes through the packed streets of Diagon Alley, on an urgent mission to find the toy baby Molly’s been wanting for Christmas. He’s so distracted trying to remember if it was the version of the doll with the broom or with the cauldron as he walks by Twilfitt &amp; Tattings, that he doesn’t even notice he’s on a collision course until he actually crashes.</p><p>“You needed new clothes, <em> mon coeur </em>,” he hears as his head hits someone’s back and he’s forced to take a step back, hand immediately going up to his face to stabilize his glasses.</p><p>“Sorry, mate…” a very familiar voice says, as he starts looking up. “Uh - Percy?” </p><p>At once, Percy registers three things: he just crashed into his brother Charlie; Charlie’s holding hands with someone; and Percy’s glasses are going to need to be adjusted as soon as he gets home because they’re sitting lopsided on his face. Right after that, Percy realizes that Charlie must have been on a date.</p><p> A date with - with <em> André Egwu </em>.</p><p>...<em> Okay, </em>Percy thinks, and then his brain stops a little bit because the new Pride of Portree Keeper is holding hands with his own older brother. Percy might possibly be just a little starstruck right now. </p><p>In hindsight, he might have spent a little more time than would be considered strictly polite staring at their linked hands. That, of course, is why it takes him more time than he’ll ever be comfortable admitting to himself afterwards to notice that Charlie’s face has gone so red you can’t even tell where his hair starts and his face ends anymore; and André Egwu’s looking every second more like he’s about to punch Percy in the face. <em>Shit.</em> <em>Okay.</em></p><p>Percy shakes his head and clears his throat. ‘Glad to see you, Charlie,’ he says. It comes out stilted and graceless and he has to clench his face muscles to avoid any outward display of his inner dismay.</p><p>Charlie just nods and looks down, face still that awful maroon tinge. “You too, Percy.” Percy has to strain to hear him over the bustling noises of the Alley.</p><p>Percy pushes his wonky glasses up his nose, clears his itchy throat and listens to his own voice awkwardly reminding Charlie to go see Mum before he goes back to his dragons, then making excuses for himself to leave. “Well, I’ll... leave you to it,” he ends, voice cracking in embarrassment.</p><p>He starts to rush off before stopping, a couple steps away. </p><p><em> You’re an idiot, Percival. Fix this. </em> </p><p>He turns around. Charlie still hasn’t moved.</p><p>“Charlie?” he says, and his big brother looks up at him, a complicated expression on his face. “Come over sometime? Audrey and the girls… we’d all love to have you.” Percy tries not to grimace too much at his awkward choice of words.</p><p>Charlie, who had started to nod before Percy even finished speaking, says, “Sure, I’ll stop by,” his voice a half an octave higher than usual. His head is still bobbing up and down, hard enough that Percy’s pretty sure if it was him he’d have the beginnings of a migraine by now. He’s almost starting to look like Hermes trying to calculate the distance between him and a wild mouse he’s planning to eat, Percy thinks.</p><p>At this point, Percy is so glad he’s not the only one floundering in this situation that he steps back to where Charlie’s still rigidly standing and reaches his arms around him in a stiff hug that presumably lasts less than a second.</p><p>“See you around, Charlie,” he says, already rushing away, mind bouncing back and forth between the revelation he’s just witnessed and his daughter’s Christmas list.</p>
<hr/><p>~14th November, 2004~</p><p>Percy doesn’t push. He never nags, or sends Charlie an owl reminding him to come have dinner, or tries to contact him in any way. It’s Charlie’s decision, and Charlie’s time, and there might be a lot of maybes in this situation but Percy’s sure of that, if not of anything else.</p><p>And most importantly, Percy doesn’t <em> tell </em> . He doesn’t tell his mum that he’d met Charlie at Diagon Alley when he goes to visit her in the afternoon. He doesn’t tell their siblings that Charlie is in the UK. And he definitely doesn’t tell anyone that Charlie had a date. With <em> André Egwu </em>.</p><p>Percy is still trying to process that.</p><p>It pays off when, a couple of days after their run-in with each other, Charlie shows up at his house an hour before dinner time and asks if he can stay for the meal. It’s a little awkward, at first, neither of them exactly sure of how to go about things now that Percy knows. But Audrey is as much of a godsend as ever, as are Percy’s usually loud, though always lovely daughters, and soon they’re all sharing a completely out-of-the-ordinary meal.</p><p>Afterwards, Charlie helps Audrey put the girls to bed, Percy gives his wife a kiss goodnight, and the brothers share a glass of whiskey and talk about the Department of Magical Transportation, Percy’s children and Charlie’s dragons, amongst other things, before Charlie leaves for Romania.</p><p>Percy, quite satisfied that everything appears to have gone back to normal between them, makes sure to remind his older brother that most of their siblings have children too, and that if Charlie spends too much time out of the country he will hardly recognize them the next time he sees them.</p><p>Charlie chuckles at that, and then leans swiftly in for an uncharacteristic hug. Percy, expecting their usual three pats on the back, is left trapped for an uncomfortable amount of time when his brother lingers instead, head hidden in Percy’s shoulder.</p><p>“Thanks, Perce,” he hears him say. Charlie’s voice is unusually soft and Percy can feel it getting lost in the wrinkles of his own shirt. He tries to relax his back muscles and brings an arm up to softly pat Charlie on the shoulder.</p><p>“Stop by next time you’re in the country, won’t you?” he asks when Charlie releases him.</p><p>Charlie rubs the lower half of his face, hand hiding a slight smile, and nods.</p>
<hr/><p>~22nd December, 2004~</p><p>Molly did not, in fact, expect Charlie to show up for Christmas this year.</p><p>After all these years, she has learned to accept that her two oldest boys don’t always make it home at this time of year. It still hurts, of course, especially since 1998 and the Battle of Hogwarts, since Fred left them all, but she knows work keeps them away more often than not and that there’s nothing to be more proud of than the way they’ve carved a place in this world for themselves.</p><p>So when Charlie had showed up two weeks before for a quick visit, she’d come to terms with the fact that she’d only have four of her children home this Christmas and tried to ignore the lump that formed on her throat whenever she thought about Fred never being there again.</p><p>That’s why she’s standing frozen in the middle of her kitchen with an astonished face when Charlie shows up on the 22nd, his rucksack in tow.</p><p>“Hi, Mum,” he smiles, a little abashedly.</p><p>“My dear!” she cries, as she takes a step forward to hug him. “We didn’t expect you!” she adds, trying to hide her embarrassment for having been so startled when she saw him. <em> Honestly, Molly, pull yourself together </em>.</p><p>It doesn’t take long for Molly to notice that her second oldest son doesn’t spend as much time with them as he has done on previous visits. She supposes that it’s not particularly strange, given how much their family has grown in the last few years, that Charlie spends more time visiting his siblings than staying at home with his parents. </p><p>Nevertheless, it <em> is </em>new for him to dress up all fancy to leave the house, a thing Molly has seldom seen him do.</p><p>Molly remembers that time last month when he came back earlier in the morning than she’s ever seen him voluntarily awake, and then wonders if maybe all of this is not due to his new nieces and nephews at all. She thinks about asking him about it, but dismisses the idea. Out of her seven children, Charlie’s always been the most skittish about this kind of thing.</p><p>Molly lets out a soft sigh. <em> At least if he’s met someone in Britain. he’ll spend a bit more time home… </em> She hopes, anyway. She could barely stand seeing him less than she already does.</p><p>Molly gets ready to call Arthur in from his workshop. He asks where Charlie went and it takes all of her will to not roll her eyes at him. Honestly, this husband of hers couldn’t be more oblivious if he tried.</p>
<hr/><p>~23rd December, 2004~</p><p>Audrey hums as she slumps against her husband’s shoulder, sitting by his side on their couch. Between the approach of Christmas Day and their uncle Charlie’s presence during dinner, the girls have, of course, been more excited than usual, making it almost impossible to get them to bed.</p><p>Percy puts his arm around her and she pokes him in the ribs until he relaxes his posture. Once she has him softened up, she closes her eyes, content to just lean against him and listen to his voice while he talks softly to his brother.</p><p>Their voices are low, and Audrey finds herself straining to hear what they’re talking about; a habit that always got her in more trouble than it was worth back in her Hogwarts years. <em> It still might </em>, she thinks when she hears the name André mentioned between the two men, at the same time that Percy’s back goes rigid again and he goes quiet.</p><p><em> Seriously, this man </em>, she thinks, and pokes her husband in the ribs again, prompting him to awkwardly extend an invitation to both his brother and his said brother’s partner.</p><p>Knowing her Percy, he’ll want to keep it as formal as possible, she thinks, fond and sleepy. It’s not every day that one meets a famous Quidditch star after all.</p>
<hr/><p>~28th December, 2004~</p><p>Percy runs his hands through his hair and swallows nervously in front of the mirror, running through today’s to-do list in his head again. The girls are at his mum’s, the dinner is ready, Audrey chose his clothes, and the wine, and the menu...</p><p>Audrey may roll his eyes at him but meeting Charlie’s first… Boyfriend? Sweetheart? Lover? Percy’s not sure what the proper term is in this situation. At any rate, meeting the first partner Charlie’s ever brought home is not exactly a stress-free situation for him. Being the first of Charlie’s siblings to do so, after a whole childhood of looking up to him, plus those three years no one talks about where he… well. Let’s just say Percy’s grateful he’s not bent over the toilet trying to avoid vomiting in this very instant.</p><p>And of course, the fact that said partner is a famous national Quidditch player doesn’t help. And oh, hey, here’s the familiar nausea again. <em> Old friend, how I have missed you </em>, he thinks, dryly. </p>
<hr/><p>~New Year’s Eve, 2004-2005~</p><p>Angelina laughs as she leaves George by the bar so he can fetch them something more to drink while she goes to the bathroom. With their kid at her mum’s and her husband in a good mood, she’s absolutely ready to make the best out of tonight.</p><p>As she comes out of the ladies’ room she looks around for the familiar head of red hair. Weasleys have always been easy to spot.</p><p>The one she finds is not, though, the one she was looking for.</p><p>“Charlie!” she calls out, surprised, walking towards her brother in law. Charlie (aside from Percy) is probably the last Weasley sibling she expected to find here.</p><p>Wait, is that André Egwu that she sees by Charlie’s side? Angelina remembers the poster of him that Oliver Wood had in his locker since the moment she joined the Gryffindor team. She also remembers all too well the time she wasn’t fast enough at running away from Wood, and had to sit through his dissertation on how many times Egwu’s keeping had helped Ravenclaw win the Hogwarts Quidditch cup.</p><p>She greets Charlie with a hug, and when he asks about George she points around towards the bar, grinning as she spots her husband’s red mop of hair, gone wild from all the dancing.</p><p>“My lady,” he says, as he hands her a drink and curtsies. She giggles back at him and pushes him back a step or two. “And who do we have here?” George waggles his eyebrows at his brother. “Never made <em> you </em>for this kind of party, Charlie.”</p><p>Charlie rolls his eyes at George and engages him in conversation, but he’s acting strangely. Angelina has never seen him nervous before, which is why it takes her longer than it should to realize that that’s what she’s seeing. But then the DJ says that it’s one minute to midnight and everything else falls out of her head.</p><p>As the bells start to ring, George clumsily grabs her free hand and twirls her around, ending it with a sloppily delivered smooch. She laughs into the kiss, trying not to spill her freshly acquired drink.</p><p>Angelina hears a soft “fuck it” coming from Charlie’s general direction and when she breaks the kiss and opens her eyes to look she finds... <em> Oh, my… </em></p><p>Charlie is leaning down to kiss a happily surprised André Egwu on the lips. </p><p>Oh, <em> very </em>interesting.</p><p>George uses her distraction to take her drink, and she sees the twinkle of a joke in his eyes as he starts taking a swig of it, turning around to look at his brother. But he doesn’t get to make the joke, because his surprised gasp makes the drink go down the wrong way and he starts coughing like he’s having an asthma attack.</p><p>Angelina takes her drink back and starts hitting his back, but the sound has definitely caught his brother’s attention, because Charlie’s there almost immediately, too.</p><p>George stops coughing and wheezes, smiling dazedly at his big brother, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. </p><p>“Good work on snatching a famous Quidditch player, big bro,” he pants up at him. “And me’n Freddie thought you didn’t have game…”</p><p>Angelina notices the exact moment his smile flickers and then returns brighter than before, his eyes turning to her, and she snatches the hand holding her drink away from him. </p><p>“What’s the point of you getting me a drink if you’re going to drink all of it, huh?” she mock-scowls.</p><p>George gasps theatrically, puts a hand on his chest and takes a step back.</p><p>“You wound me, angel! I’d never do that,” he declares, smirking. “Now, drinking <em> most </em> of it on the other hand…”</p><p>Angelina pokes him in the ribs and they both laugh. Yeah, it was a good choice to go out tonight.</p>
<hr/><p>~30th January, 2005~</p><p>As soon as Angelina and George get to his parent’s house, George sees a huddle of gingers and heads in that direction, kissing Angelina on the cheek and leaving baby Fred with her and his mum.</p><p>“So…” he starts, slinking an arm around Ginny’s shoulders as he reaches them, smirk firmly planted on his lips. “How much dirt do we have on Charlie’s new <em> bea- </em>Percy, what the fuck?” George curses at his brother as he’s grabbed by the scruff of his shirt and dragged away from the group. “What was that about?”</p><p>Percy looks at him with a severe expression and his arms crossed in front of him, back straight.</p><p>“That’s not your story to tell, George” the older brother says, frowning.</p><p>“What story?” he asks, confused. “It’s not like no one knows that Charlie likes blokes… Wait, that’s exactly what it is, isn’t it?” </p><p>Percy looks surprised, “How did you…?”</p><p>“Snooping has its benefits, Per-ci-val,” George singsongs, bringing one hand up to rest an index finger on his temple as he winks at his brother, who clears his throat, looking taken aback.</p><p>“In any case, it’s Charlie’s choice who to tell and when,” Percy nods.</p><p>George rolls his eyes and sighs “You’re no fun, Perce,” but doesn’t complain and doesn’t tell anything about Charlie’s great catch to anyone.</p><p>And if he lets out a couple of comments about suspecting that Charlie’s got something brewing in his cauldron, to Percy’s general dismay, well, he never promised to be completely good, did he?</p>
<hr/><p>~25th March, 2005~</p><p>Ginny’s rushing through the Quidditch stadium, using all the shortcuts that she can remember (like they don’t always build them in the same places) to get to the changing rooms before any other reporters.</p><p> Ginny can already see the headline: <em> Keeper Match: Egwu and Wood’s Quidditch Dance. </em> The match had been spectacular, and both Keepers have more than earned their position with today’s performance.</p><p>Ginny slows down as she gets closer to the Pride of Portree changing room. Looking frazzled and disheveled will just not do for this. She’s still getting her portable quill ready for this interview when she sets eyes on the changing room doors.</p><p>Wait.</p><p>What’s<em> Charlie </em> doing here? He’s not due to come home for another week at least, and she doubts he’d bother to come by just to tell her something. Half a life of worst case scenarios crosses through her mind and a sudden phantom hand envelops her chest. Has anything happened?</p><p>But as she starts to take a step towards him, a shadow runs past her and, before she knows it, she’s surrounded by the Prides, lively and happy and chattering excitedly about their victory. When she looks up again she sees André Egwu jumping right up and into her brother’s arms to get a hug.</p><p>Ginny can’t hear a word they’re saying from where she is, but she can see them talking; and she’s seen Charlie smile before but this is nothing like any smile she’s ever seen on her brother’s face. The only comparable expression she has to liken this to is the one on Charlie’s face when he’d once told her and Ron about how his work group had found a wild nest of a dragon species believed until then to have gone extinct.</p><p>That’s probably what makes her change course and walk to the Puddlemere area of the stadium to interview Wood first. When she gets back to the Portree changing rooms, Egwu has already left the scene.</p><p>And if her editor scolds her later for not getting quotes from <em> all </em>the main players the way she usually does - well, Ginny rather thinks it’s worth it to see that smile on her brother’s face.</p>
<hr/><p>~24th April, 2005~</p><p>“What do you mean, what’s he like? You’ve met him,” Percy says, blinking at George as he pours himself a glass of lemonade.</p><p>“For <em> five minutes </em> , Percy! At a New Year’s party!!” George moans, trying to look as pitiful as possible. Percy is a tough nut to crack, and George has <em> always </em> had a hard time weaseling information from him once his brother decides he doesn’t want to give it out, the pompous arse.</p><p>“Still, I don’t think it’s any of your busine-”</p><p>“Percy - Perce - <em> Percival </em> , my dear, dear brother,” George starts, slinging an arm around Percy’s shoulders and leaning most of his weight on him. This almost makes Percy overbalance, and he has to brace himself on the table to avoid falling on the floor. “You’ve <em> talked </em> to him. <em> Multiple times, </em> even!” George’s other hand goes to Percy’s midsection, fingers at the ready for a good tickle attack, and his brother tenses. </p><p><em> Aha! Don’t think I’ve forgotten all your weak points, Percy! </em> George grins to  himself. “I still don’t understand why you won’t talk about Charlie’s boyfriend with me, given that I’ve already <em> met </em>him,” he pleads, giving Percy one last chance before he goes into offensive mode.</p><p>Percy opens his mouth to protest again, but what he says George will never know, since they’re interrupted by a gleeful whoop from behind them. Ginny appears, dragging Bill by the arm with a positively insane glint in her eyes.</p><p>“You’ve met him <em> too </em>?,” she hisses, eyes gleaming like she’s five years old again, and Ron’s managed to sneak her out to the shed for a spin on his training broom.</p><p>Percy looks like he’s about to argue, just on principle, but George has finally found an ally. He quickly lets Percy go and grabs Ginny instead, both of them already bending their head in confidence and gossip.</p><p>Percy fidgets, disapproving, trying to pay as little attention as possible to this childish behaviour, but Bill leans in with them and listens, eager to find out more about this new development.</p><p>Bill is also the one to point out that Charlie’s first attempt at cleaning up, back in his Hogwarts days, was probably due to André too; which juicy information makes Ginny giggle, because that girl has always been a romantic.</p>
<hr/><p>Ron is trying not to fall asleep, drowsily full and content after the excellent meal he’s just had. Listening to Harry and Hermione talk about her latest proposal for S.P.E.W. isn’t precisely what Ron would call scintillating conversation, so trying to not let his eyelids close while sitting by Hermione on his parent’s couch, watching James try to grab Harry’s glasses off his face, is more of a challenge than it ought to be.</p><p>Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, especially where Hermione’s battle for house elf rights is concerned, Ron shakes his head and stands up, proclaiming that it's well past time for some godfather-godson time. He carefully takes James from Harry's arms and walks out of the room in search of something to drink to help keep himself awake. A lemonade will probably be good for it.</p><p>Paying careful attention not to collide with anyone (God knows Ginny would skin him alive if James suffered so much as a bump while in his care, not to mention how Ron would feel himself), he makes his way to the drinks table, where he finds his siblings in lively but furtive conversation.</p><p>Ginny, Bill and George are huddled together, discussing something apparently very exciting, while Percy watches them from a step away, clearly trying not to get dragged into the conversation. Ron stops by his side. ‘What’s up with that lot?’ he asks, with a jerk of his thumb at the little huddle.</p><p>Percy startles, like he hadn't noticed him approaching at a snail's pace from the other side of the Burrow's backyard. His eye twitches in that way Ron knows means he's hiding something, and he says, "Uh - hell if I know!"</p><p>Ron's so thrown by the use of profanity from Percy, of all people, that he forgets to ask more questions before Ginny looks up, sees him holding James and comes to take the baby from him. (Ron is not jealous of the easy way she holds him, or the fact that she gets to take him home at the end of the day, he is not thinking about having a chubby, sweet-scented baby of his own to take care of, and he's definitely, most assuredly, not thinking about how Hermione would look pregnant. He isn't!) Ginny returns to her little huddle with James tucked over her shoulder, and Ron turns to the table.</p><p>While he serves himself a glass of lemonade (and makes a point of filling two more for Harry and Hermione, because that’s just polite, isn’t it) he overhears George and Ginny getting worked up about something again. When he thinks back on that later, the only words he'll be able to remember from the whispered conversation between his siblings will be "Charlie" and "going out".</p><p>Ron tries not to notice the distinct lack of baby in his arms as he makes his way back to his best friends. By the time he gets there and hands Hermione her drink, Mr and Mrs Granger have joined the conversation and are playing devil’s advocate to their daughter’s arguments, while Harry looks on, amused.</p><p>“Where’d you forget James at?” Harry asks, quirking an eyebrow up at Ron as he sidles up, lemonade extended towards Harry’s hand.</p><p>“I didn’t forget him anywhere!” he blurts out, offended. He wouldn’t! Then he looks at Harry’s face and notices the slight upturn on one side of his mouth, the raised eyebrow, and frowns at him. “Ginny has him.”</p><p>“Great, thanks mate.” Harry bumps their shoulders together, and if he maybe maintains the contact for slightly longer than necessary, as a silent apology, Ron isn’t going to say anything about it.</p>
<hr/><p>~30th May, 2005~</p><p>Arthur is thinking of asking Emily about the fascinating usage of dental floss when across the table Charlie stands up and clears his throat, claiming everyone’s attention.</p><p>“I have some news for everyone,” he says, and he’s looking around the table but his eyes keep falling on Molly and Arthur himself. Arthur remembers the time he told them he had secured a position in the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, wonders if he’s planning on going further away this time. “Someone in this table… has been offered a temporary consulting position in the MCRC in Scotland,” he says. He looks around the table, raises his arms in an expectant expression and waits.</p><p>For a second, there’s no reaction.</p><p>Somewhere at the other end of the table Harry tilts his head and asks: </p><p>“Um, what’s the M-C-R-C?”</p><p>“Oh!” Charlie exclaims, “Of course! The MCRC is the Magical Creature Restoration Center. They’ve just started a project on a subspecies of the Hebridean Black that’s only found in the Monarch Isla-” he’s interrupted by the table bursting into chaos, everyone jumping into the conversation all at once.</p><p>“Oh, Charlie, dear!” Molly cries out, standing up and walking around the table to hug their son. “How brilliant!”</p><p>Arthur looks at his Molly and she looks like the time George bought them Celestina Warbeck concert tickets for her birthday.</p><p>“Good job, son,” he smiles at Charlie, who’s now looking decidedly less put together in his mother’s arms.</p><p>Both their comments get lost in the cheers and congratulations around them.</p><p>The table calms down and everyone slowly takes their seats again, but when Arthur is reaching for his goblet he sees that Ginny is still standing up and has raised her own glass.</p><p>“Since we’re doing announcements,” she begins, a big smile on her face, “We,” she waves her hand to gesture between Harry and herself, “also have one.”</p><p>Arthur looks over at Molly, who’s very clearly trying to hold in an excited gasp.</p><p>“James,” Ginny begins, and Arthur can see his wife deflate a little bit, “is going to be a big brother!”</p><p>The table explodes in congratulations again, and Molly stands up and makes her way to the couple for more hugs. Arthur eyes Harry, who’s taking a step away from all the crazy, and laughs when Molly just pulls him in by his arm and gives him a tight hug.</p>
<hr/><p>Later that evening, when the kids are all gone and they’re about to go to bed, Arthur catches Molly humming ‘A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love’ as she gets ready, and smiles at her gently swaying hips.</p><p>“Good day, then, love?” he asks, trying, and failing, to suppress the fond smile that springs to his lips.</p><p>Molly gets into bed and curls up around him, turning the lamps off with a flick of her wand as she goes. When she kisses him goodnight he can feel the smile on her lips.</p><p>“The best.”</p>
<hr/><p>~13th-26th June, 2005~</p><p>It doesn't take long after Ginny's announcement for Molly to start pestering Ron about children. Hermione loves her mother in law, really, but still, whenever she sees Ron's hunched up shoulders and the way his mood turns surly every time his mother is brought up, she rather regrets having ever proposed that they live so close to his parents.</p><p>It's not like they haven't been trying to get pregnant. Ron wants a baby, and while she could wait for another 5 years before she's even pressed for time in this, she can understand his anxiousness every time her period approaches. </p><p>Hermione's told him that the more nervous he gets about this the harder it'll be but she can see the way this lack of results is wearing on him. Sometimes, just sometimes, that's one of the things that makes her think this whole having a child idea isn't worth it, if it’s going to make him so miserable.</p><p>They're having tea at the Burrow on the weekend and so far Molly has directly mentioned Ginny's pregnancy four times, and Hermione’s heard her make reference to babies and children on at least seven other separate occasions. Ron's starting to lose his patience with it, and, frankly, she doesn't blame him. Mrs Weasley has never been subtle.</p><p>Hermione is doing her best to follow Charlie and Percy’s conversation about DRCMC rules that apply differently in Scotland or are unique to the Hebrides due to the marked presence of dragons in the area, and the way these changes are reflected and distinct from the ones contemplated in Wales due to the presence of the Green Welsh; while at the same time answering Arthur and Audrey’s questions about their newest Muggle obsession: Facebook, when she sees what’s happening on the other side of the room.</p><p>Molly is talking to Ron again, Harry trying to run interference with very little success from the looks of it, when Ron’s crossed arms and bouncing leg become clenched fists into his shirt and gritted teeth and he ends up standing, arm moving in a sweeping motion around the room, almost yelling, “Well, I bloody well aren’t the only one, now, am I?” </p><p>The room goes silent. Hermione can feel everyone’s gazes turn towards her corner of the room, or very pointedly try not to.</p><p>Ron, still on his feet, sighs and drags his hand through his hair, pulling a little, the other on his hip, clenching and unclenching in an irregular rhythm. He looks at her, pleadingly and she’s about to stand up to go to him when Charlie beats her to it.</p><p>“I should-” he begins, then stands up and fidgets in his place. “I should be getting back, now,” he says, and, very pointedly ignoring anyone’s eyes, walks upstairs. Not five minutes later they can hear the distant pop of a disapparation. </p><p>Half the room turns back towards Ron, and he drags the hand in his hair to his face, head dropping and shoulders hunching. “What?!” he lets out with a little hysterical laugh. His ears are red.</p><p>Hermione thinks this is quite enough. With a last sip of her tea, she stands up and walks to him. Ron looks up as soon as her feet are in his field of vision. He looks defeated.</p><p>“Hey,” she says, voice low, and walks towards him until she can comfortably put her hands on his hips. “Let’s go home, yes?” </p><p>Ron takes a second to answer, and she can feel him breathe into her hair. “Yeah.”</p>
<hr/><p>~31th July, 2005~ </p><p>Ron is starting to regret telling everyone. Sure, he’s ecstatic that Hermione is pregnant - over the moon, even - but having to listen to his mum and his sister tell Hermione all the ups and downs of pregnancy and, God help him, childbirth, has him feeling nauseous. </p><p>The baby’s going to do WHATto Hermione’s body? Oh, bloody hell. Why, oh why didn’t he think about all of this beforehand? Some chess master he’s supposed to be.</p><p>He looks over at Harry with a pleading expression. How did his best friend manage to get through this, not only once but now for a second time? Just thinking about Ginny’s body going through this too… Ron feels like he’s going to be sick.</p><p>Harry raises an eyebrow at him as if to say ‘you’re on your own’, <em> Ta very much, mate, </em> Ron thinks. <em> Tosser </em>.</p><p>Ron looks around, trying to distract himself from the conversation happening<em> right by his side </em>. Hermione’s fingers are digging into his arm as a testament of what’s going to happen if he leaves her alone in this, and he’s willing himself not to grimace when he sees a panicked look cross over his brother Charlie’s face.</p><p>Ron does wince this time, feeling a pang of guilt as he watches Percy put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder, and is that a squeeze? Nevermind, Ron owes him an apology. Their mum might be determined and get on his nerves but he shouldn’t’ve thrown Charlie to the wolves like that.</p><p>Ron sees Charlie turn towards Percy and give him a faint smile but Hermione’s digging has become more insistent so he steels himself and turns back to the conversation at hand.</p>
<hr/><p>~1st August, 2005~</p><p>Ginny’s putting the finishing touches on her article on how the sudden sick leave of the Montrose Magpies’s Beater, Kris Locket, led to their astonishing defeat at the hands of the Falmouth Falcons, when her editor runs into the room. This is a sight so common that no one even stops doing what they’re doing; in fact, Ginny herself only notices that he has come in when he’s halfway to her desk.</p><p>“Weasley!” Bottlebrush squeaks, stopping by her side. What follows is a scrambled rant from which Ginny can only decipher scattered words; accident, Pride of Portree, grave injury, training, André Egwu…</p><p><em> Oh, bollocks </em>.</p><p>Ginny thinks back to March, remembers the smile on her brother’s face and the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he was hugging Egwu, the twinkle in his eyes. She’s up and off her chair before she realizes, dragging Andrew, her photographer, to the office fireplace. </p><p>They Floo to the Prides’ training grounds. It’s packed, but Ginny doesn’t see the familiar hue of ginger and she realises that no one’s told Charlie yet. She thinks about him finding out from the newspapers.</p><p>
  <em> Buggering hell. </em>
</p><p>Ginny abandons Andrew to the sea of reporters and rushes back to the fireplace. </p>
<hr/><p>She’s been pacing around the Center’s front room for at least twenty minutes when the doors open and she hears a familiar voice, “Ginny?”</p><p>She looks up to her brother. By now she’s racked her hands through her ponytail so many times it’s a wonder it’s still holding, her jacket abandoned at the Prophet’s office and her eyes threatening tears. <em> Sodding hormones. </em></p><p>“Hey, what’s wrong?” Charlie hurries to her side, a small frown on his face, “Did something happen?”</p><p>Ginny’s mouth is dry. She takes his hand in both of hers. She looks into his eyes and just barely manages to answer with an “André’s been hurt.”</p><p>Charlie takes a step back, “An- Wait, how did you-?” he gets out. One of his hands is tugging on his ponytail, his breathing has gone shallow and he’s looking anywhere but at her. “Wait, what…?”</p><p>His face looks like it can’t decide between emotions: eyes wide and staring at empty space, furrowed brows, mouth set in an uneven line. Ginny can only remember seeing that expression on his face two other times; the first, when the last baby dragon from the nest he’d been taking care of had caught a virus, and the second time, well…</p><p>“Is he…” he begins, and he can’t seem to bring himself to finish the phrase.</p><p><em> He’ll be okay, </em> she thinks, but doesn’t say it aloud because she doesn’t <em> know </em> he will. “He’s at St. Mungo’s.”</p><p>Charlie swallows, jerks his head into a nod, swallows again. “Okay. I need… I… I have to…” he gestures around himself and it could mean anything, really, but Ginny takes it as an ‘I need to tell my supervisor that I have to leave.’</p><p>So Ginny walks up to him, takes his arm and walks him to his superior’s office. She watches him say something about a family emergency and hospitals and how he’ll let them know once he has an idea of how long he’ll need to be gone for.</p><p>They both take the Floo to St. Mungo’s and when they get there she squeezes his hand until they’re at the front desk and he asks about André Egwu’s condition.</p><p>The witch at the desk eyes them suspiciously, probably already tired of having to fend off reporters, and Ginny remembers she’s wearing her Daily Prophet’s badge, <em> fuck </em>.</p><p>Charlie tells the receptionist his name and hands her his wand as an identification; she checks André’s emergency visitor’s list and lets only Charlie through, while Ginny is left behind,  helplessly watching her brother march towards the Magical Emergency Unit.</p>
<hr/><p>~2nd August, 2005~</p><p><em> 6:57am. </em>Olive looks at the clock on the wall of the MEU and writes the time on the chart in her hand. After a very long night, Mr Egwu has woken up. His emergency contact, Mr Weasley (she asked) hasn’t left the room since he got here at exactly 10.36PM last night.</p><p>Olive sighs and walks out of the observation room, finding the Healer in charge of Mr Egwu’s case and telling him that his patient’s just woken up. For someone who was so insistent about being immediately informed, Twinkleberry is certainly taking his time, Olive thinks, trying to hold in an eye roll.</p><p>Olive follows her supervisor, and really, what did she do to deserve getting saddled with this bum, anyway. She watches him maneuver around his lime green robes to check on Mr Egwu. It’s really a pity that his injuries were so extensive; Pride of Portree is her favorite team, and having to train up their reserve Keeper for the first team so far into the season is pretty much going to guarantee they don’t go higher than 6th place in the league. In any case, Mr Egwu was lucky that he’d gotten so much use out of the broom he was using for training. A newer, less loved broom would definitely not have cushioned his fall like that.</p><p>Twinkleberry leaves the room and Olive is left to make sure Mr Egwu is comfortable enough. As per usual, she’s the one who has to explain the circumstances of the accident, because Twinkleberry is nothing if not efficient with his time. She mentally counts the days until her apprenticeship is over and she is finally considered a full-fledged Healer: 43 more to go.</p><p>It’s never nice to have to tell someone they’ll never be able to do their job again, but athletes are usually the ones that take it the worst. Olive is as careful as she can be with her words, and then leaves Mr Egwu’s in Mr Weasley’s hands. If she’s learned one thing in her apprenticeship at St Mungo’s, it’s that visitors are usually more adept at dealing with people’s emotional shock than the employees in the hospital.</p><p>From her post in the observation room she checks the patient in the other room, writing down: finger twitches, 7:48AM. She surreptitiously keeps an eye on Mr Egwu’s room, wanting to give them privacy but at the same time still curious about the Keeper who features on the poster on her nephew’s bedroom wall.</p><p>Mr Egwu isn’t moving much, and she can’t hear them through the glass, but she sees Mr Weasley leaning in, his left hand raising to rest on Mr Egwu’s hair, his thumb stroking gently at the hairline. And if she peers a little more intently, she will notice Mr Weasley’s other hand clutched by both of Mr Egwu’s, atop his lap. But she is definitely not doing that; that’s not part of her job.</p><p>If she was, though, that’s definitely the reaction she’d be waiting for, less vocal and dramatic than some other people’s, sure, but the clenched fists, bitten lip and lowered eyes tell one single story.</p>
<hr/><p>Harry is sitting by Ginny’s side, holding her hand. He hasn’t gotten any other explanation other than that someone Charlie’s seeing got into an accident during Quidditch practice, and that his brother-in-law is inside with them.</p><p>Percy - who had arrived before Harry  last night , alerted by the emergency Floo transport channel - is pacing in front of them. On Harry’s other side, George, who had read the news in the paper that morning if his rushed arrival an hour ago, hand still clenching a newspaper page, was any indication, keeps biting his nails, trying very hard to be inconspicuous about it.</p><p>Harry feels Ginny stiffen against his side, and looks up to see Charlie approaching them, following André Egwu, who’s walking more slowly than any uninjured Quidditch player should, really. </p><p>Percy stops his pacing and straightens up so fast that Harry’s back aches in sympathy. George has hidden his hands in his pockets.</p><p>“Hey guys,” says Charlie, once they’re close enough. “Thanks for coming, really but we’ll, eh… I’m going to take André back to his flat,” he adds, looking across their faces.</p><p>Egwu makes a little scoffing sound. He’s fidgeting with his shirt cuffs, and after years of experience with this kind of thing, Harry can definitely tell that every step he’s taken so far has been pretty much agony. </p><p>Harry pats Ginny’s shoulder and stands up, offering to carry the bag in Charlie’s hand. Charlie sends him a thankful look and immediately proceeds to put a hand around Egwu’s waist. “Come on,” he says to him, and then, turning towards the others, he adds, “I’ll call you, yeah?”</p><p>Harry leaves them by the Floo fireplace at the entrance and goes back to Ginny, already thinking about the face Ron is going to make when he wakes him up this early to pick up James. He snickers. It’s all about the small things.</p>
<hr/><p>~6th-29th August~</p><p>With Ron safely occupied with a baby on the way, all Mum's efforts seem to have turned to Charlie, especially now that he's revealed he's going back to Romania after September ends. </p><p>"You know you're allowed to bring friends to these dinners, don't you?" she asks him, as she passes him the biscuit plate at tea.</p><p>Charlie leans back on the armchair and crosses an ankle over the other leg, a perfect picture of casualness and relaxation.</p><p>"Yes, Mum," he answers, voice unwavering.</p><p>The tips of his ears are red. Bill smiles into his teacup.</p>
<hr/><p>"Charlie, I found a Pride of Portree shirt in your laundry - have you changed teams, dear?" Mum says during dinner. Bill hears stifled laughter coming from Ginny and George's direction.</p><p>"It's mine, actually," Bill says, and, with a wink aimed at Charlie, he adds, "a friend from school used to play."</p><p>Charlie splutters into his butterbeer.</p>
<hr/><p>"You look rather fetching in this new shirt, dear," Mum comments, filling Charlie's plate with more salad than he's ever eaten in one go and pointedly making eye contact with him.</p><p>"Thanks, Mum," he says, not breaking the eye contact himself. </p><p>When Mum moves on to someone else, Bill can see him sneaking half his salad onto Ron's plate while he's distracted.</p>
<hr/><p>"Are you ever going to bring her home?" Mum finally asks, three days before he goes back to Romania.</p><p>"Bring who, mum?" Charlie asks back. His eyes are very firmly planted on the dishes he's drying, and he's squeezing the dishcloth rather tightly in his hand.</p><p>Bill, who's just walked into the kitchen, looks at his mother, sighs, and interrupts what she's about to say by telling her Victoire's just fallen in the garden and is asking for her Gran. After five years, he's learned that the kids are the best way to distract her; he doesn't even feel guilty about it anymore.</p><p>Once she's walked out of the kitchen, Bill takes her place by the sink and starts washing the dishes himself.</p><p>"How's he doing?" he asks; he can feel his brother's eyes on the side of his face like a physical presence.</p><p>"As good as can be expected, I guess…" Charlie answers, after a while.</p><p>"Good," Bill adds, and then, "Say hi to him from me, yeah?"</p><p>To which Charlie sighs and says, "Yeah…" </p><p>Bill's sure that if he looked, Charlie's face would have the same expression he'd made that time Bill told him he was good at flying, after Bill had caught him sneaking out to ride dad's broom instead of his practice one. He doesn't look.</p>
<hr/><p>~12th November, 2006~</p><p>Hermione's pretty sure Charlie's choosing to visit <em> them </em> is not a coincidence. Especially after the tail end of the conversation she overheard between Bill and Molly, and the half hour of gossip Ginny and George saw fit to bestow upon her at the last Weasley get-together. Especially since Ron seems as oblivious as a person could possibly be about Charlie having ever gone out with anyone, let alone being in a stable relationship right now. </p><p>Speaking of the devil… she thinks, as her husband turns to her from where he's cooking their dinner and smiles at her.</p><p>"Hermione, show him!" Ron exclaims. </p><p>Hermione tilts her head to one side. <em> Show him what? </em></p><p>"The soundography!" <em> Ah. </em></p><p>"It's a sonogram, Ron," she says, but she's already gesturing her wand towards their electrical fridge and casting a silent <em> Accio </em> spell to bring the ultrasound image to her.</p><p>Charlie leans forward and grins at the little blurry square.</p><p>"Isn't it great?!" Ron puffs his chest out and Hermione smiles at him. "It's an image made by sounds! Muggles are so clever about this stuff." He leaves the pan for a second and walks to the kitchen table. "And that!" he points at the tiny shape of the fetus at the center of the image, "that's our baby!" </p><p>Hermione gives Ron a pat on the hip and he drops a kiss on her hair and goes back to the stove. She's hungry.</p><p>"Oh, I'd heard about these but I'd never seen one," Charlie says, peering intently at the little picture. "And you said they made this using sounds?"</p><p>Hermione wonders if either of them realize how much they act like their dad when they're faced with "new" Muggle inventions. </p><p>"That's the gist of it, yes," she tells Charlie, taking a sip of her sugar-free raspberry juice.</p><p>"Brilliant! Do you think this would work with eggs too?"</p>
<hr/><p>After they're done eating and the dishes are stacked up in an orderly pile in the sink for Hermione to do in the morning, the three of them sit down in front of the telly.</p><p>It doesn't take long for Hermione to fall asleep with her head on Ron's lap. This is definitely his favorite part of the day.</p><p>"Hey, Charlie?" he says, turning to look at his older brother. "I'm sorry about the whole… mum thing," Ron adds, gesturing with the hand that he doesn't have buried in Hermione's hair.</p><p>"Not your fault, pal," Charlie smiles at him and rolls his eyes. "Mum's just… Mum."</p><p>"Yeah, I guess…"</p><p>"How're <em> you </em> doing? Nervous?" Charlie raises his eyebrows at him, a smirk dancing on his lips.</p><p>"You can't even imagine," Ron says, and he has to force himself to sit still, licking his lips and grinning at Charlie. "I didn't realize how excited I was going to be about this, y'know? A baby!"</p><p>"Yeah, mate, I can tell." When Ron smiles at him, Charlie is shaking like he's trying not to laugh out loud at his brother’s excitement. Ron doesn't really care.</p><p>Silence settles around them like a comfortable cloak, and it's only when the movie goes into a quiet moment that Ron brings up something he's been thinking for a while.</p><p>"You ever thought about it? Being a dad?"</p><p>Charlie hums and doesn't say anything, and for a while, that's all Ron thinks he's going to get as an answer.</p><p>"I don't think it's for me," Charlie says, minutes later. "Besides, my experience with dragons says babies come in batches, anyway, and I don't think the world's ready for a set of Weasley triplets."</p><p>Ron snorts so hard he hurts his throat and ends up coughing. Charlie's laughter wakes Hermione up, and Ron's the one that gets the glare.</p><p>Yep, sounds about right.</p>
<hr/><p>~21st December, 2005~</p><p>Ron doesn’t understand why Hermione won’t let him change the channel while the news is on. It’s not even like she’s watching them, she’s in the kitchen! But she says she likes to hear them while she cooks because “Some of us like to stay informed of what happens in the world, Ronald.” Ron doesn’t even argue anymore.</p><p>So while he’s trying to not fall asleep - because Hermione’s pregnancy-induced insomnia is keeping both of them up at night, and, really, some days he truly, genuinely wishes he’d thought <em> all </em>of it through before they decided they were going to have a baby - the news anchor mentions civil partnership. He hears a small hitch of breath coming from Charlie’s direction.</p><p>Ron looks over and sees that his brother is leaning forwards, elbows on his knees, hands clasped, wide eyes fixed on the telly. There’s a slight crinkle on the side of his eyes and he's biting his lip.</p><p>Ron thinks <em> Huh </em>, and he might have said it out loud, too, because he has to rapidly turn towards the telly when Charlie's head twists in his direction.</p><p>Ron thinks about every clue he’s been ignoring for other, more interesting subjects this past couple of years. He remembers Hermione’s comment about Charlie at the beginning of last year, the furtive three-way conversation he’d overheard, Charlie’s face when they’d announced Hermione was pregnant, and thinks, <em> Oh </em>.</p>
<hr/><p>“Hermione?” Ron says, right hand hovering over the book on his bedside table.</p><p>They’re sitting in bed, room softly lit by both their reading lamps, and this is usually where he’ll read something <em> genuinely </em> light while Hermione flicks through some book that’s thicker than his arm, but there’s something he needs to talk about today. He waits until she’s looking at him, then says;</p><p>“Do you remember that conversation we had last year about Charlie?”</p><p>“Hmm, I think so,” she says, tilting her head, “Why?”</p><p>“Well, I think… I think Charlie’s seeing somebody,” Ron replies, lowers his eyes, looks back at her. He needs to see her reaction to this. “A, um, a male somebody.” He swallows.</p><p>“Hmm,” she repeats, “okay.”</p><p>“And I don’t think we should tell anyone!” he blurts out. “The others, they mean well but… they’re all blabbermouths and I don’t think it’d be fair for Dad or, y’know, Mum to find out like this… It should be Charlie’s choice, right?” He rubs his neck and looks over at Hermione to find her smiling at him. “It’s not like it’s a <em> bad </em> thing, I just don’t think they’d be able to keep it to themselves, right?”</p><p><em> Except, </em> he frowns, they <em> are </em> all blabbermouths, and Ron thinks of Percy’s use of profanity, the way his siblings changed subjects whenever he got too close, the smothered laughter at his mum’s pointed comments and how Bill ran interference for the worst of them.</p><p> <em> Those wankers. </em></p><p>“Bloody hell… They all knew, didn’t they?” he says, turning to Hermione, and, wait - “You knew too!” he huffs. “Were you ever going to tell me?”</p><p>Hermione sighs and smiles sideways at him. “You were right.”</p><p>“What?” </p><p>“At the beginning, when you said it was Charlie’s choice,” she clarifies, raising an eyebrow. She extends her hand towards him, palm up.</p><p>Ron hums thoughtfully and takes her hand with both of his to start playing with her fingers. Hermione weaves her fingers through his and squeezes.</p>
<hr/><p>~25th December, 2005~</p><p>“So, how many of you knew, and how did you find out?” Ron says. Harry notices George try to slink away from the conversation, but Ron has noticed this too, and he grabs George by the arm before he can leave. “Oh, no, pal, you don’t get to run away from this.”</p><p>Harry sees Percy swallow, look around at the group gathered around Ron. George off-handedly adjusts his sweater, puts his hands in his pockets. Bill is slowly lowering his eggnog cup, back straightening slightly, and Ginny rests a hand on top of her belly and narrows her eyes.</p><p>Ron looks mortally offended. Harry knows that frown; none of them are getting out of here until he gets an answer. He sighs. Might as well be the first one to tell.</p><p>“I was told,” he says, raising his hands in front of him like a shield.</p><p>“So was I,” Bill is quick to point out, which only gets him stomped foot. <em> Ouch </em>.</p><p>“We’d talked about it before, you traitor,” Ginny tells him, through a clenched jaw.</p><p>“And the rest of us have met him too, Ronnie, what’s all this about?” George says, casually leaning on the drinks table. Harry sees a smirk starting to form on his face.</p><p>“Wait, you’ve met him?” Ron asks. His eyebrows rise towards his hairline and he leans forward a little bit.  “Well, what’s he like?”</p>
<hr/><p>~1st January, 2006~ </p><p>“I still don’t understand why she won’t let you tell me his name,” Ron mutters at Harry, glaring at the picture of Ginny on the hallway table. “It’s not like I would recognize him by name alone…” </p><p>Harry occupies himself by kneeling and tying his son’s jacket and doesn’t look up at his best friend. Ron lets out an offended huff but probably notices how his hands are shaking a little bit because he leans down to hand him James’ scarf and hat.</p><p>“Thanks, mate,” Harry says, then turns to the toddler and smiles slightly. “Now, James, remember what we talked about. Daddy will be there as soon as he can, but you will have to stay the night with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, okay?”</p><p>James looks up at his uncle and says “Won!” with a huge smile on his face. Ron cringes.</p><p>Harry tries not to laugh. “Yes, buddy, well done." He turns to Ron, face going serious, and adds, "You'll be alright?"</p><p>"Yeah, mate, we'll take care of him, you go be with Ginny." Ron crouches and picks James up, smiling at him. "Hey, puff, how's it going?" James smiles back, a little gummy, and pats Ron's nose.</p><p>"See you tomorrow, yeah?" Harry says, leaning forward to kiss James on the forehead.</p><p>Ron follows him out, James, now distracted by his red hair, safely held in his arms, and answers, "Sure, we'll see the three of you when you get out. Say bye to your dad, James."</p>
<hr/><p>~2nd January, 2006~</p><p>The moment they step into Ron's place and she hears the pitter patter of James running on the top floor, Ginny lets out a relieved sigh. It’s not that she doesn’t trust Ron with her son, really, but she doesn’t quite have the blind trust in him and Hermione that Harry does, and toddlers are… complicated.</p><p>Albus is very quiet in Harry’s arms, and Ginny’s still a little tender; magic or not, giving birth is an exhausting process. Ginny doesn’t know why Hermione’s so stubborn about doing it the muggle way when her labour comes.</p><p>“Ron!” She hears Hermione’s voice coming from the living room. “Ron, they’re here!”</p><p>There’s a thud, a yelp, and then some muttering before the sound of little feet stops. Ginny hears what’s undoubtedly her brother rushing down the stairs, followed by his voice saying, “Hey, mate! Ginny,” as he walks into the kitchen, face eager and hair wild, James happily playing with his overgrown locks.</p><p>Immediately distracted by her first baby, Ginny cooes and takes a step forward towards her brother. She’s pretty sure Ron’s asking questions and she’s very glad Harry has the presence of mind to listen because, right now, seeing James after their first whole night apart is all she’s got concentration for.</p><p>At some point Hermione joins them in the kitchen, wearing bright orange slippers that just have to belong to Ron. Ginny hears Harry ask her about her own pregnancy and she says her ‘O.B.G.Y.M.’, whatever that stands for, has her on proverbial bedrest, which is probably why Ron was the one running after James upstairs when she and Harry got there.</p><p>They don’t stay long, after that, just enough time for Ron to invite himself and Hermione over to bring them dinner some time in the next week. To ‘get to know Albus’, as he puts it. Ginny doesn’t think Ron’s ever paid this much attention to any other nieces or nephews of his except for James, really.</p><p>It must be a best friend thing.</p>
<hr/><p>~28th-29th January, 2006~</p><p>Charlie drags his eyes away from André’s silky collarbone and sighs into his teacup. He’s been trying to finish this report for at least an hour, on the couple of recovered Catalonian Fireballs that can finally be considered juveniles, but he keeps getting distracted by the way André looks in the jumper Charlie’s mum made for him last Christmas. It just doesn’t seem to want to stay on his shoulders.</p><p>Charlie shakes his head, <em> The report </em> , he thinks, and tries to focus his eyes on his parchment. He’s starting to regret putting off his return to Romania, if only because it involves way more paperwork than he’s comfortable with. There’s just something <em> wrong </em> about writing about the dragons in his care without being there to properly evaluate them.</p><p>André startles and brings his finger to his mouth, and it takes a moment for Charlie, busy staring at André’s once more uncovered shoulder, to realize that he must have pricked himself with the pins he was using to adjust the sleeveless tunic he’s finishing for the outer layer of his inauguration outfit. He finished Charlie’s clothes a week ago, and he’s been working on his own almost non-stop for two days now, because <em> You cannot open a wizarding fashion shop and have the tailor be the worst dressed, Charlie. </em></p><p>It takes even longer for Charlie to recognize the reason André was startled in the first place. Mostly because he’s extremely not used to having his <em> Muggle mobile phone </em>ring. It’s even more surprising that the name ‘Ron’ is the one on the small screen. Ron never uses any kind of Muggle phone if he can help it. It’s got something to do with Harry and his Muggle relatives and a failed attempt when Ron was a kid, but Charlie’s never quite got the details straight on that story.</p><p>Charlie fumbles with the keyboard and picks up as fast as he can, only to hear his little brother’s panicked voice on the other side, already in the middle of screaming a phrase; “-why aren’t you answering? Charlie? Can you hear me?” </p><p>“Ron? What happened?” he says, trying to keep calm. This can not be good.</p><p>“Charlie? Oh, thank God!” Ron yells into the phone. He’s breathing too fast, and Charlie can practically see him pulling at his hair, pacing and trying not to shake. </p><p>“Is everything okay?” Charlie asks, and steels himself for the answer.</p><p>“Hermione’s in labour,” Ron replies. He’s still talking too loudly and Charlie can’t tell if it’s because of the unusual method of communication, or because he’s panicking worse than Charlie had thought because Hermione’s in labour. At 7 months pregnant. That’s 2 months early! </p><p>Charlie doesn’t have a lot of experience with human pregnancy but he’s seen enough dragons hatch to know what can happen to the runt of the litter even if the others let it have everything it needs. He shakes his head, trying to forget about translucent scales and wing holes and faulty lungs. <em> Can human babies even survive out of the womb at seven months? </em> His hands are shaking.</p><p>He doesn’t remember telling Ron that he’ll be there, but he must have, because Ron lets out a sharply relieved sigh and tells him, between breaths that sound more like gasps: “Okay… okay… Thanks, Charlie. I’ll see you soon. I’m gonna try Harry again,” and hangs up.</p><p>Charlie stands up, a little wobbly. He doesn’t even look in André’s direction as he walks to the flat door and grabs his car keys (one of the many disadvantages of living in center London, if you ask him, is the fact that it’s such a densely Muggle area, so cars are almost a necessity if you have to go to Muggle places. Like Hermione’s hospital is. <em> Fuck </em>.)</p><p>But then there’s a hand on his arm and André makes him turn around and explain before he can walk out without shoes or even a coat. André offers to drive him, and Charlie just looks pleadingly at his face and hopes he understands, because he doesn’t think he could explain anything right now. </p>
<hr/><p>André parks in front of the Muggle hospital near Hermione’s childhood home, and waits for Charlie to get out of the car, but Charlie’s brain is still rushing through all the possibilities and he can’t seem to force himself to move.</p><p>“Hey,” André says. Charlie feels his hand on his wrist, a warm pressure that helps him ground himself. He can’t be a mess once he walks in there. André’s thumb rubs softly at his pulse point, and Charlie forces his breath to slow down, matching the rhythm of its circling.</p><p>“Come with me?”</p><p>André nods, and murmurs a soft ‘okay’, before letting his hand go with a last reassuring press, and getting out of the car. “Let’s go find them, then.” Charlie has no other option but to follow him.</p>
<hr/><p>Arthur can see Molly standing by Ron’s side, hand reaching up and rubbing between his shoulders, comforting circles that all their kids have woken up to at some point, after a childhood nightmare.</p><p>His own Muggle interest aside, Arthur knows that the only people who have any experience with this kind of situation are Emily and Richard. Which is why he’s asking them every question he can think of about Muggle hospitals and births.</p><p>Just in case. </p><p>Arthur takes a distracted look around at his family. Harry is sitting very still in one of the end seats of the waiting room, eyes fixed on Ron but darting periodically to the door they’re all waiting in front of. Bill, hair tied back in a simple bun, is sitting by George. He looks calm, the only stiff thing about him being the arm that he has around his brother’s shoulders. George, on the other hand, is bouncing his leg and biting his nails, and by the look on his face Arthur thinks that the only reason he hasn’t stormed into the birthing room and taken Hermione to St. Mungo’s himself is because of Bill holding him back. When he looks over at Ron and Molly again, he can see a very similar expression on his wife’s face.</p><p>Molly looks up, and Arthur sees her narrowing her eyes and frowning a little bit at the other door in the room. He follows her gaze and sees that Charlie’s finally here. With someone else. Someone really familiar who’s holding Charlie’s hand.</p><p><em> Huh. </em> Well, Arthur certainly hadn’t seen this coming, but  it explains a lot, come to think of it.</p><p>Molly says nothing, simply keeps rubbing Ron’s back until the nurse comes out to get him, but Arthur sees the look she shoots at Charlie. <em> Oh, they’ll have words alright </em>, Arthur thinks, watching her go to sit silently between Harry and George, grabbing one of their hands each with her own.</p><p>When Ron walks out of the door half an hour later with a bright smile, eyes wet and crinkling, Arthur can feel the whole room exhale a sigh of relief.</p><p>Ron walks to where Harry has now stood up, and tells him Hermione wants to see him, too. They walk back together, Harry elbowing Ron in the ribs and smiling up at him like they’re twelve again and Ron just managed to outdo his older brothers in a degnoming throw.</p>
<hr/><p>When the nurse tells them it’s time to let Hermione rest, Ron kisses the side of her head, squeezes her hand, and both him and Harry stand up from her bedside and Harry walks out to the waiting room. </p><p>Ron can’t help but sneak one last visit to the room where they’re keeping Rosie for now, maybe for a couple weeks yet, the doctor had said. The knot in his stomach has been slowly dissolving since he walked into Hermione’s room and saw her smiling tiredly up at him. Doing this alone was her own idea, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to do it again next time - if there is a next time.</p><p>Rosie looks so tiny in that plastic cage, incubator they called it, but it’s supposed to keep her safe and help her do the growing she didn’t finish before she decided to come out to see the world for herself.</p><p>She’s so small, and yet Ron already sees Hermione in her. The little tuft of curling light brown hair at the crown of her head, the way she grasped at his finger the brief moment he was allowed to touch her through the holes in the incubator, the the way she just couldn’t <em> wait </em> to experience everything, as though just one more second of <em> not knowing </em> what it was like was gonna be the thing that did her in; yes, she’s all Hermione.</p><p>Ron is so in awe that this little baby also has <em> part of him </em> in her that he can barely breathe when he looks at her.</p><p>It takes him a while to get to the waiting room, and by the time he manages it, most of the family have already left. Harry must have explained to them how Hermione will not be ready for any more visitors until tomorrow, that’s good. </p><p>The ones who have stayed are George, Charlie and the person he arrived with, someone Ron hasn’t paid attention to up until now. Harry is also still there, currently talking to George, heads bowed together and voices soft. George’s eyes keep darting towards the doors Ron just walked through. In the end, Harry offers to walk both his brothers to see Rosie from the outside of the room, since neither of them seem likely to go home before seeing either her or Hermione. Ron doesn’t know that he’d react differently in their place.</p><p>He’s just sitting down in the chair Harry had recently vacated, body leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, when a cardboard cup appears in front of his face. He grabs it with a grateful noise, and looks sideways to the man taking the seat by his side.</p><p><em> André Egwu. </em> Ron remembers meeting him once, years ago, after one of Ginny’s games. <em> So this is why they wouldn’t tell me his name </em>. He takes a sip out of his cup, trying not to pull a face. This hospital tea is truly terrible - Hermione hadn’t been joking about the food here.</p><p>“Hey… thanks for coming, man,” he tells André after he’s swallowed his tea, extending his hand towards the older man. “I’m Ron, we met a while ago, I don’t know if you’ll remember...” Now that his earlier panic is subsiding, Ron’s pretty sure the breathlessness is due to something else entirely.</p><p>“Yeah, I know.” André Egwu smiles, all bright teeth and twinkling eyes, and shakes his hand. “Charlie talks about all of you all the time.” There’s a minute of silence before he adds, “I may also have seen a couple of your 6th year games.”</p><p>Ron’s head snaps up towards him, his eyes wide open of their own accord, his throat working as he tries to say,  “Wh-hat?... how?”</p><p>André taps the side of his head with one finger, his eyes and nose crinkling as he smiles and lets out a small huff of laughter, presumably at Ron’s face. “Pensieve. Most teams send scouts to Hogwarts for major games.” He stays quiet for a moment and then adds, “From one Keeper to another…” he gives Ron a complicit little smile, “you were pretty good for a Hogwarts level player.”</p><p>Ron feels his eyes open wider, his eyebrows climbing his face towards his hairline and his ears starting to burn. André Egwu lets out a small chuckle, and Ron is opening his mouth to say something, lips working faster than his brain, when Charlie steps into his field of vision, mumbling something about stealing André away.</p><p>“See you around, Ron,” André says, with a smile, and bloody hell, Ron must be really out of it, because he’s only just now realizing that he has a slight French accent.</p><p>Ron looks at Charlie now, still wide-eyed, barely even noticing the way his big brother’s shoulders seem to have relaxed since the last time he saw him, the way a small smile is now lighting up his face. “She’s beautiful, Ron,” Charlie says, his voice almost a whisper. “Good job.”</p><p>And, yes,, Ron is definitely blushing right now, as if the burning sensation in his ears weren’t enough giveaway. </p><p>Which is precisely the moment he hears George’s voice croon, “Aw, ickle Ronniekins has finally grown up!” as he walks into the room followed by a chuckling Harry.</p><p>“Shaddup,” Ron mutters. He is pretty sure his face is as red as his hair at this point.</p>
<hr/><p>On the drive home, André stays quiet. Charlie’s pretty sure he’s trying to give him space after tonight, but he can read in the slight furrow in his brow and the way he taps his fingers against the car window that he has something to say, and Charlie can feel the tension start to build up at the base of his spine again.</p><p>“What is it?” he asks, not willing to wait until they get back to André’s flat to talk about it.</p><p>“What did your mother tell you?”</p><p><em> Ah </em>, so he had noticed the way Mum had pulled him aside for a while once Ron and Harry had gone back in. Charlie sighs.</p><p>“She said we should go to the get-together tomorrow.” He breathes in again and takes his eyes off the road for a second to sneak a look at his partner.</p><p>André is trying to keep a straight face, but Charlie sees the slight crinkle of his nose and the way he’s very pointedly looking at the road as they drive by. <em> He actually wants this, </em> he thinks. <em> Crazy family and all. </em></p><p>André moves his right hand until it’s resting very gently on top of Charlie’s left on the gear stick. “Are they still doing that after this afternoon?”</p><p>Charlie huffs a laugh at the road and shakes his head, disbelievingly.</p><p>“You try and stop my mum, I dare you.”</p><p>André chuckles and squeezes Charlie’s wrist as he slides his hand away.</p>
<hr/><p>~29th January, 2006~</p><p>Molly is adding the last finishing touches to the meal for the ‘monthly Weasley get-together’, as the children have taken to calling her close family reunions, when a drop of sauce falls on her hand from the cookware dancing in the air in front of her. <em> Hmm, that new spoon still needs breaking in </em>.</p><p>She gives it a stern look and licks the drop off her finger. <em> No use wasting perfectly good food </em>. The spoon falls into rhythm with the rest of the cooking utensils.</p><p><em> That’s more like it </em> , she nods. <em> Meal, check </em>.</p><p>She makes sure that everything is in its proper place and waves her wand to double wrap the food for Arthur to bring to Ron and Hermione at the hospital. <em> Hospital run, check </em> .</p><p>Molly nods again, then hears the characteristic Floo crackle and pop from the fireplace, and walks around the stairs to greet the first of her family to arrive.</p><p>Percy is the earliest, as always. She smiles up at him as he greets her with a kiss on the cheek. <em> We did good with Percy </em>, she thinks with a small inward nod. “Hello, dear!” she says, patting him on the cheek, and he smiles back at her.</p><p>A couple of pops later, and Audrey and the girls are standing in her living room too. Molly greets her daughter-in-law and rapidly leans down to beam down at her girls and cuddle them in for their usual hugs.</p><p> Bill and Fleur are next, their girls running outside after a fast hello to go and play with their cousins, baby Louis in Fleur’s arms looking around with wide blue eyes.</p><p>By the time Charlie gets there, hand in hand with his… <em> Boyfriend </em> , she thinks - the word still tastes strange in her brain - she’s half expecting that he won’t show at all. Charlie may work with Five-X magical creatures, but he has never liked confronting <em> people </em> when he didn’t absolutely have to.</p><p>She gives Charlie’s companion a quick welcome nod, but Arthur seems to have been waiting in the wings for this moment, because he quickly snatches the young man away and starts talking about Quidditch and the all-Muggle car that he and Charlie had used yesterday to get to the hospital.</p><p>Molly gives her second oldest a speedy once-over and frowns, her hands on her hips. Charlie takes half a step back and audibly gulps when she says “Charlie Septimus Weasley...” with a stern voice. “Now, may I ask why in Heaven’s name you didn’t tell me about your sweetheart before? Your own mother, finding out at the hospital like that!” Charlie is leaning back a little, one arm half raised in front of his chest in a protective gesture. “Letting me go on worrying about you ending up alone, with only your beasts as companions, really…” she tsks.</p><p>“Mum, they’re not <em> beasts… </em>”</p><p>“That is not what we are discussing right now, dear!”</p><p>Charlie opens his mouth in protest, but automatically closes it when he sees the fire turn green and Ginny walking into the living room with James in her arms. She’s rapidly followed by Harry, baby Albus strapped to his chest.</p><p>“Oh, hey Charlie!” Harry says, breaking the tension, and Molly can hear her son let out a sigh of relief. She narrows her eyes and turns to look at him, but Harry adds “Good to see you, Mrs. Weasley,” with a smile, and of course this just <em> won’t </em>do.</p><p>“Oh, <em> Harry </em> dear! I’ve told you a thousand times. Call me Molly.”</p><p>She accepts his kiss on the cheek, and by the time he turns back to her son, Charlie’s already grabbed James from Ginny and is halfway out of the door to the backyard with a fast, “Let me get him for you, Ginny,” over his shoulder.</p><p>Molly speed-walks to the door after him and yells at his retreating figure, “This is not over, Charlie Weasley!” She sees his shoulders come up to his ears, James’ small hand using the opportunity to grab that distressingly disorderly ponytail. </p>
<hr/><p>Bill hears André invite his parents to the inauguration, picking up the very slight waver in his voice as he hints at store discounts for the family, clearly not wanting to offend. He snorts.</p><p>Charlie is evidently thinking along the same lines, because Bill sees him lean towards his partner and whisper in his ear: “If you’re going where I think you’re going with this, you might as well close the shop before even opening - these miscreants will put us out of house and home,” his mouth turned up in a smirk.</p><p>A second later, Bill feels him jump a little bit, their shoulders bumping, and guesses that André must’ve elbowed him in the side.</p><p>“Shush, you. I’m trying to be nice,” André tells him, his voice low.</p><p>“Well, don’t be <em> too </em> nice. Fair warning, they <em> will </em> work you to the bone,” Charlie says, now at his usual volume.</p><p>From the other side of the table, George gasps exaggeratedly and brings a hand up to his chest in an offended gesture. “Who, <em> we </em>? Never!”</p><p>Bill laughs. He even <em> sounds </em> scandalized.</p>
<hr/><p>~2nd February, 2006~</p><p>Hermione has Ron walk her to ‘André’s Attire’ on one of their breaks from visiting Rose at the hospital the next week. <em> Just one more week </em> , she thinks, <em> one more week and we can take her home </em>.</p><p>The shop is full to bursting, and André has to call out one of his assistants (he has three, from Hermione’s count) to relieve him from his duties so that he can come and greet them properly.</p><p>Charlie’s already on his way back to Romania, and, if you listen to Harry tell it, André has a standing invitation to any and all Weasley get-togethers, whether Charlie’s there or not, so they really should get to know him better.</p><p>Even if all both Hermione and Ron want is to be at the hospital with Rose right now.</p>
<hr/><p>~25th March, 2006~</p><p>Charlie wraps his arms around André’s waist and breathes in the scent of the jasmine plant André has growing on the window sill. It’s early in the morning, and André is still sleeping, nose buried in Charlie’s chest hair.</p><p>Charlie smiles down at him and admires the way André’s dark skin looks against his own, pale and freckled.</p><p>He thinks about tomorrow’s get-together, and about the letters Mum has sent him the last few months, about the way she hasn’t pestered him about his life choices even once. He thinks about waking up next to André for the next three days; about the way André’s nose crinkles whenever Charlie’s family does something crazy, again.</p><p>Charlie hides a grin in André’s short, soft curly hair, and thinks back to where he was a year ago.</p><p>All in all, this whole coming out business could have gone a lot worse.</p><p> </p><p><br/>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>DRCMC=Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures<br/>MoM=Ministry/Minister of Magic<br/>MCRC=Magical Creatures Rehabilitation Center<br/>Audrey is a Muggleborn or Half-Blood Hufflepuff born the same year as Fred and George. She and her friends/roommates used to sneak around behind Cedric Diggory during the Triwizard tournament year.<br/>Hermione’s parents are called Emily and Richard Granger.<br/>Just so everyone can see that I’m not playing favorites with and invented dragon that just happens to be from the same place I am from;  <a href="https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Catalonian_Fireball"> Here's the wiki article</a>.<br/>While the Civil Partnership law was approved in 2004, the first civil partnerships in Great Britain were officialized in 20th December 2005; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_partnership_in_the_United_Kingdom"> according to Wikipedia</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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